It is conventional practice to display certain products in individual packages with an absorbent pad in the bottom of the package either to absorb liquids exuded from the product in the package or to absorb liquids prior to packaging of the product to provide an atmosphere of high relative humidity within the package. Conventionally, such a package comprises a supporting tray with an absorbent pad in the bottom of the tray, the product being packaged resting on top of the absorbent pad and an overwrap of liquid impervious plastic film covering both the product and the supporting tray and confining the product and absorbent pad therein.
Certain products, such as flowers and certain vegetables, etc., have increased shelf life if an atmosphere of high humidity is maintained within the package. To this end, an absorbent pad, which has previously been soaked in a liquid, is included in the bottom of the package. The soaked pad maintains an atmosphere of high humidity within the package once the liquid impervious overwrap is placed therearound.
Most commonly, food products which exude liquids therefrom, such as meat, fish and poultry, are packaged in individual packages with an absorbent pad to absorb the juices or liquids exuded from the food product. Certain of such absorbent pads for such food products have the capability of absorbing the exuded liquids and maintaining the absorbed liquids against substantial migration back to the food product to increase thereby the shelf life and to avoid spoilage or discoloration of the food product.
The merchandising of such individually packaged products has increased the likelihood of theft, particularly of the more expensive items such as meat, fish and poultry. Theft of individual packages of meat, fish and poultry from grocery supermarkets is currently costing the grocery industry millions of dollars each year. Increased security has not proven to be the answer to this problem since such increased security greatly increases labor costs and has generally been ineffective.
With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, nonvisible means for activating or triggering theft alarm systems for such product packages.
It is a more specific object of this invention to incorporate a theft alarm activating or triggering means in the absorbent pad used in such individual product packages.